Ukraine Offers US Minerals For Weapons
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON/KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Wartorn Ukraine has made U.S. President Donald J. Trump an offer the deal-maker-in-chief may find difficult to refuse: In exchange for American military aid, he will have access to Ukraine’s mineral industry, which could provide a valuable source of rare earth elements needed for many kinds of technology.
Kyiv’s announcement came after an interview that aired Monday in which Trump said he wanted such a deal and warned that Ukraine “may be Russian someday.”
“We really have this big potential in the territory which we control,” Andrii Yermak, chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, said in published remarks. “We are interested to work, to develop, with our partners, first of all, with the United States.”
President Trump claims that Ukraine, which has been facing a full-scale Russian military invasion since February 2022, has “essentially agreed” to give America half a trillion dollars worth of rare earth minerals. They would serve as payment for the multi-billion dollar military aid Washington provided Kyiv.
“They have tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earth [minerals], in terms of oil and gas, in terms of other things. I want to have our money secured because we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars [in Ukraine],” Trump told broadcaster Fox News’ “Special Report” program host Bret Baier.
The interview was taped before Sunday’s Super Bowl, America’s most prominent football event.
“They [Ukraine] may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday,” Trump stressed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed on Trump’s plan, say sources familiar with his thinking, as he seeks to strengthen Kyiv’s hand ahead of future peace negotiations with Moscow.
More than 1 million people are believed to have been killed and injured in Europe’s bloodiest armed conflict since World War II.
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